Act III/Scene II

Plot
* The scene starts by Oberon asking himself who or what did Titania fall in love with when she had waken up. He gets somewhat relieved when he sees his “messenger”, Puck coming to him.

* Puck tells Oberon that Titania had fallen in love with “a monster” (who is actually Bottom). Oberon gets very satisfied by this (as in “This falls out better than I could devise”)

* Oberon also asks Puck whether he “latched the Athenian’s eyes with a love-juice” or not. Puck tells him that he had dropped the juice onto the man and a woman by his side. When Demetrius and Hermia enter the scene, it is revealed that the man is Demetrius and the woman is Hermia.

* Puck tells Oberon that he had intended to drop the potion on Hermia, but not on Demetrius.

* Since Lysander had left her, Hermia has become worried about him. This worry takes such a level that she even accuses Demetrius of having murdered him. When Demetrius seems to insist on remaining neutral on this topic, Hermia says that if he tells her whether he is dead or not, he will never see her (something which she calls as a “privilege”).

* Hermia then exits the scene, and Demetrius stays alone as a human. He tells himself that he will stay in the woods.

* Oberon gets surprised and he tells Puck that he had mistaken, turning a true love into a false one but not a false one true. Then he tells him to bring Helena here by using some of his illusions (as in “By some illusion see thou bring her here”). Puck “warrants” that he will do so by going even swifter than an arrow.

* When Puck exits the scene, Oberon “tells” the flower to give its juice to him, so that he can drop the juice onto Helena’s eyes and fix the relationships between Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius.

* Soon, Puck comes with Helena and Puck and Oberon exit the scene. Lysander and Helena enter the scene. Lysander tells Helena that Demetrius loves Hermia but he doesn’t love her.

* Because of this noise, Demetrius wakes up and he immediately starts praising Helena by saying that she is a “goddess, nymph, perfect and divine”. Even though Demetrius really loves her as an effect of the juice, Helena doesn’t believe him and she says to him that “if you were civil, and know courtesy, / You would not do me thus much injury”.

* She also tells him and Lysander that both love Hermia and both mock her (as in “You both are rivals, and love Hermia / And now both rivals to mock Helena”).

* Lysander tells Demetrius that he no longer loves Hermia but now he loves Helena (as in “And yours of Helena, to me bequeath, / Whom I do love, and will I do till my death”).

* Demetrius replies to this by saying that he was the first one to love Helena, and she must always stay in his heart (as in “And now to Helen is it home return’d, / There to remain.”)

* Hermia enters the scene. Helena gets angry at her too, as she thinks that she was the one who had sent Lysander and Demetrius to “praise” her. Hermia replies by saying that she didn’t understand what she said.

* Helena tells Lysander and Demetrius that she has become tired of all these arguments and only death or absence can remedy this. However, Lysander tells her to stay in the woods. When Demetrius sees this, he becomes angry and he tells Lysander that he loves Helena more than he can. When Hermia asks Lysander what are all these going to, she gets an angry reply from him. She gets surprised and says “''Why are you grown so rude? What change is this sweet love?''”.

* Hermia gets surprised even more when she learns that Lysander hates her and loves Helena. She becomes very angry and she tells Lysander that he is a “juggler” (juggling the women he loves?) and a “thief of love”. Then, she starts to argue with Helena. During this argument, Helena also tells her that she had told Demetrius where she and Lysander were in the woods.

<p style="margin-left:18.0pt">* Soon, Demetrius and Lysander go out of the woods to compete with each other about how much they love Helena.

<p style="margin-left:18.0pt">* When the two men exit the scene, Hermia tells Helena that this is all her fault (as in “You mistress, all this coil is ‘long of you. Nay, go not back.”) Helena replies to this by saying that she has longer legs than hers, so she can run away from the woods and leave the “curst” company of her much easily. Then they exit the scene and Oberon and Puck enter.

<p style="margin-left:18.0pt">* Oberon tells Puck that the reasons for his mistake are his negligence and will of knavery. Puck tries to defend himself by saying that he had never intended to do such a mistake but he had just confused the two men because of their Athenian outfits.

<p style="margin-left:18.0pt">* Then Oberon tells Puck to gather Lysander and Demetrius at the same place and make them sleep. As Puck goes to do so, Oberon thinks that he will go to Titania and beg her to take the Indian boy.

<p style="margin-left:18.0pt">* Lysander and Demetrius have finished their “competition” and gone back to the forest to see each other. However, they cannot see each other first and both think that it was a “cowardice” of his partner to escape from him. As Puck follows them, he takes them to the same place and makes them sleep there. Thus, he could drop the potion to the right person.

<p style="margin-left:18.0pt">* Meanwhile, Helena and Hermia enter the scene and sleep there too. It seems like Hermia no longer loves Lysander, as she says “Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray.” By this, she implies that he should only be in the Heavens if they will be angry against him.

<p style="margin-left:18.0pt">* When all four of them sleep, Puck drops the potions onto them and he says to himself that “every man should take his own”.